Sunday, November 20, 2016

Qingdao Grand Prix 2016 - China DAY THREE

Russia finish top of the table in Qingdao ahead of season-ending Tokyo Grand Slam

The last ever Qingdao Grand Prix crowned
five gold medallists on day three from four different countries as
Russia finished top of the medal table in China.

China’s annual Judo Grand Prix, which was first held in
2009, was held in Qingdao for the final time as one of the leading
Asian events will move to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia in the North of China
from 2017.

The Qingdao Grand Prix 2016 concluded on Sunday with
the women’s 78kg and +78kg categories and the men’s -90kg, -100kg and
+100kg categories as China had high expectations for their heavyweights.

Russia ruled in China as they recorded a 14-strong
medal haul including four gold, five silver and five bronze medals. An
inexperienced Japanese team showed that ability can more than match
experience as they won four gold medals and three bronze medals to
finish above China who earned three gold, four silver and eight bronze
medals.

+78kg action as MA (CHN) in white beat XU (CHN)

The IJF World Judo Tour has one last stop for 2016 as
the sport returns home to Japan for the Tokyo Grand Slam which will
feature Rio 2016 Olympic champions such as ONO Shohei (JPN), Fabio
BASILE (ITA) and Tina TRSTENJAK (SLO) as the highest profile event
following South America’s first Olympics.

Following the Tokyo Grand Slam, the IJF President Mr.
Marius VIZER will take part in a live Twitter question and answer
session on Monday 5 December at 5pm Japanese time.

Use the hashtag #AskVizer to submit
your question as Mr. VIZER will be ready to engage with all members of
the judo family and the media during the open forum live from Tokyo.
Follow the IJF President on Twitter at @MariusVizer

Watch #JudoTokyo2016, the final event on the IJF World Judo Tour 2016, live and free from Friday 2 – Sunday 4 December at www.ippon.tv

WOMEN

-78kg: TAKAYAMA maintains 100% medal-winning record on IJF World Judo Tour Tyumen
Grand Slam winner TAKAYAMA Rika (JPN) maintained her 100% medal-winning
record on the IJF World Judo Tour as she won her first Grand Prix gold
medal on Sunday. World number 14 TAKAYAMA squared off against ZHANG
Kaili (CHN) who was contesting her first IJF World Judo Tour final and
the 24-year-old ko-uchi-gari expert, who finished seventh at the Zagreb
Grand Prix 2014, was second best throughout. The young Japanese fighter
wrapped up her opponent on the ground in osaekomi which started with a
mune-gatame before moving into a yoko-shiho-gatame and just for good
measure the -78kg starlet had a ude-garami on the left arm of her
Chinese foe.

In the first semi-final TAKAYAMA dismissed LI Yang
(CHN) with a quick workout as she threw for waza-ari and then held down
the local fighter with a kuzure-kesa-gatame for 15 seconds to book a
place in the final. In the second semi-final 19-year-old MA Zhenzhao
(CHN) lost out to teammate ZHANG Kaili (CHN) by the maximum score to
drop into the bronze medal contest instead of the gold medal contest on
her senior debut.

The first bronze medal was won by MA against
19-year-old TIAN Miao (CHN) by a yuko in clash between two young Chinese
talents. A makikomi attack from MA was enough for a yuko as the hosts
further inflated their medal haul on the final day. The second bronze
medal contest was won by former Almaty Grand Prix winner Anastasiya
DMITRIEVA (RUS) who beat LI. DMITRIEVA moved ahead 2-1 in their
head-to-head series as she won their third contest on shidos 1:3.

+78kg: World champion YU shows her superiority over compatriot MA at home

World champion YU Song (CHN) won the domestic bragging
rights as she defeated World Judo Masters silver medallist MA Sisi (CHN)
in the last women’s contest in Qingdao. YU extended her head-to-head
record to 4-2 as she made a winning return to action in her first
competition since winning bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics. YU, who could
still be identified from her red backpatch which is reserved for
reigning world champions, countered an osoto-gari effort from MA with
one of her own for ippon with 90 seconds left on the clock.

In the first semi-final YU defeated former Jeju Grand
Prix silver medallist LEE Eun-Ju (KOR) in a flat contest which saw the
world champion move into the final on shidos 1:2. In the second
semi-final MA bested Zagreb Grand Prix bronze medallist Sandra
JABLONSKYTE (LTU) in osaekomi with a mune-gatame hold for 20 seconds
having led by a yuko score.

The first bronze medal was won by 2011 Qingdao Grand
Prix bronze medallist KANG Jie (CHN) who threw JABLONSKYTE for a
waza-ari before she trapped the Lithuanian on the ground for 15 seconds.
The second bronze medal was won by LEE who saw off ko-soto-gari
specialist XU Xin (CHN) on shido penalties. XU, who had never medalled
at this level, showed a lack of desire as she allowed KIM to take the
medal from Qingdao on shidos 2:0.

MEN

-90kg: Seoul 1988 Olympic medallist steers son STEWART to first Grand Prix gold Glasgow
European Open winner Max STEWART (GBR) turned his number one seed
status into gold for Great Britain on Sunday with the best performance
of his blossoming career. STEWART, 23, defeated Ulaanbaatar Grand Prix
silver medallist GANTULGA Altanbagana (MGL) and rushed to embrace with
his coach and dad Dennis STEWART (GBR) who won bronze at the 1988 Seoul
Olympic Games. STEWART tangled with GANTULGA for the first time and
captured his maiden Grand Prix title by way of shime-waza after finding a
route out of the initial hold down from the Briton.

STEWART said: “I was always looking for the strangle in
the final and I had the perfect chance after my first hold down. I’m
getting used to fighting at these bigger events and I hope for more
competitions and more success in 2017. My next event will be the British
Championships in December.”

In the first semi-final STEWART (GBR), who held down
highly-rated Tenri University recruit ODKHUU Tsetsentsengel (MGL) with a
tate-shiho-gatame in his quarter-final, submitted JEON Chan (KOR) with
shime-waza after an expertly controlled turnover. In the second
semi-final GANTULGA defeated former Taipei Asian Open bronze medallist
LEE Jaeyong (KOR) by a waza-ari to guarantee the second Grand Prix medal
of his career.

The first bronze medal was awarded to rank outsider
Said Emi ZHAMBEKOV (RUS) who threw LEE with a sumi-gaeshi for ippon with
two minutes remaining. World number 133 ZHAMBEKOV seized his
opportunity as he won the first medal contest on the last day of the
Qingdao Grand Prix 2016. The second bronze medal went to beaten
semi-finalist JEON who routed ERIHEMUBATU (CHN) with four unanswered
scores to the delight of his South Korean teammates in the stands. JEON
opened his account with a waza-ari from a drop seoi-nage after 40
seconds before adding a yuko from a left-sided seoi-nage. A
shell-shocked ERIHEMUBATU was then thrown for a yuko with a right-handed
seoi-nage before being put out of his misery by ippon from a
morote-seoi-nage.

-100kg: DENISOV puts -100kg elite on red alert after debut victory

Four-time world medallist Kirill
DENISOV (RUS) stepped up to -100kg with devastating effect in Qingdao as
he drove past Samsun Grand Prix bronze medallist KHUTAG Tsogtgerel
(MGL) in the final to win a debut gold at his new weight. DENISOV, who
has fought for a medal at the last six World Championships, has given up
his world number 12 ranking at -90kg to move up to the -100kg category.
That decision was vindicated in his first competition at -100kg as he
beat first-time finalist KHUTAG by ippon after 29 seconds with a
tani-otoshi.

DENISOV said: “I did two Olympic cycles at -90kg and I
felt like now was the time to make a change. This is a good start for me
but there is a lot of hard work ahead. I think that now I will really
show my best judo and I want to see how my power works out at this
weight. I will go to Tokyo and hope to continue this positive start at
-100kg but I know it will be extremely difficult in Japan.”

In the first semi-final DENISOV (RUS) had to work
harder than he expected to see off Taipei Asian Open bronze medallist
HONG Yi Chih (TPE). The contest was scoreless after five minutes but
HONG had been penalised three times as he was fighting to hold off the
Russian who made a smooth transition to life at -100kg. In the second
semi-final Orenburg European Cup bronze medallist Maksud IBRAGIMOV (RUS)
was beaten by KHUTAG on shidos as the Russian was penalised three times
while the latter was only penalised once.

The first bronze medal was won by IBRAGIMOV who
defeated Abu Dhabi Grand Slam bronze medallist Philip AWITI-ALCARAZ
(GBR) by a yuko from a sode-tsurikkomi-goshi. Russia were already
assured of gold or silver in the -100kg final and IBRAGIMOV made sure
that there would be two Russian’s on the -100kg medal podium with a
narrow victory as Londoner AWITI-ALCARAZ was unable to put together any
of his highly-regarded hip techniques or his uchi-mata. The second
bronze medal was won by HU Mingchao (CHN) who defeated HONG in an
exciting contest which gripped the crowd which was its most sizable of
all three days of competition. HU, who had twice finished fifth at this
event in recent years, finally got his sought after home medal after 68
seconds of added time as HONG was penalised for dropping to keep the
medal in China.

+100kg: OGAWA draws inspiration from his legendary father for Japan

Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist
OGAWA Yusei (JPN) brought the OGAWA name back to the international
landscape in China as he continued to emerge from the shadow of his
father and carve out his own reputation. The Japanese heavyweight warmed
up this morning with four-time world champion and Barcelona 1992
Olympic silver medallist OGAWA Naoya (JPN) who saw his son overpower
fellow youngster Anton KRIVOBOKOV (RUS) to win gold. OGAWA was more
adept in ne-waza and created enough space to pin down the Russian with a
mune-gatame and KRIVOBOKOV tapped out after 18 seconds.

In the first semi-final Tyumen Grand Slam winner Andrey
VOLKOV (RUS) lost out to KRIVOBOKOV who held down his compatriot with a
kesa-gatame for 20 seconds and ippon. In the second semi-final former
Junior World Championships winner ULZIIBAYAR Duurenbayar (MGL) was
thwarted by Tyumen Grand Slam silver medallist OGAWA Yusei (JPN). The
Japanese fighter won by a single shido which was given to the Mongolian
for a gripping infringement.

The first bronze medal went to ULZIIBAYAR who came from
behind to beat Taipei Asian Open bronze medallist LEE Po Yen (TPE) in
the closing seconds. Two yuko scores put LEE in the ascendancy but he
was careless in the last minute and was thrown for a waza-ari with 11
seconds left and tapped out while pinned in osaekomi after three
seconds. The second bronze medal went to VOLKOV who edged past two-time
Grand Prix bronze medallist KIM Kyeongtae (KOR). A shido against KIM for
a gripping infringement was decisive as both judoka failed to threaten
the scoreboard and their mutual lack of attacking impetus showed why
they were inferior to today’s heavyweight final.